Are Slovakia And Poland Finally Serious About Giving Ukraine Their Old MiG-29s?

Here we go again.

For at least the third time since Russia widened its war on Ukraine in February last year, the government of Slovakia has proposed donating to the government of Ukraine most of its 11 aging Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters.

Hopefully for Ukraine, things are different this time around.

“I think it is time to make a decision,” Slovakian defense minister Jaroslav Nad wrote on Facebook. “People are dying in Ukraine. We can really help them.”

The Slovakians would donate their MiGs in cooperation with the Poles, Nad wrote. “A Polish colleague confirmed to me that his country would agree to a joint procedure between Slovakia and Poland in handing over the surplus MiG-29s of both countries.”

Poland has 29 of the twin-engine, twin-tail, supersonic MiGs: 12 it inherited from the Soviet Union in 1991, 10 it got from the Czech Republic in 1996 and 22 Germany sold it in 2003. After losses, Warsaw still owns 29 MiGs.

The Poles like the Slovakians have, since February 2022, made noise about giving away their MiG-29s. But a whole year has passed without a single airframe changing hands.

Some NATO countries consider any donation of high-performance warplanes as especially escalatory. The only warplanes Ukraine has managed to source in the first year of the current war are 18 Sukhoi Su-25 subsonic attack jets it got from Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Slovakia reportedly is saving one old MiG for a museum. If Poland gives away all 29 of its own MiGs—perhaps over Germany’s objections—then Ukraine could get a batch of 39 jets, some of which might require deep maintenance in order to return to flight.

The need is clear. The Ukrainian air force went to war with around 50 ex-Soviet MiG-29s and has lost at least 18 of them to Russian missiles. It’s apparent Ukrainian technicians have repaired some stored airframes. But even with these additions, Kyiv’s MiG fleet is under strain.

And Ukrainian commanders are asking more and more of the MiG-29 force. The Americans have helped to modify the MiGs to carry High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles and, apparently, GPS-guided glide-bombs.

With its allies’ help, the Ukrainian air force is transforming its aging MiG-29s into the service’s most flexible precision-strike planes. If and when Kyiv finally launches its widely-anticipated spring counteroffensive, the MiGs could fly combat air patrols, attack air-defenses and lob glide-bombs at supply depots and troop concentrations.

The Ukrainian air force will lose more MiG-29s. It’s unavoidable. Twenty-nine extra MiGs would help to sustain Kyiv’s air campaign as the war grinds into its second year.